The Great Depression

Suddenly, I'm Half-Mexican. Now What?

How to embrace -- or reject -- a family secret.

Was Hostess' Death a Murder, Suicide or Natural Causes?

Or was it all three?

Art: Well Hung

Isn't DACA Just a Ruse to Identify and Deport DREAM Act Students?

Welcome to Bikinis, Texas: Austin Businessman Wants to Turn Entire Hill Country Town Into a Giant Breastaurant

Temple Smith was a farsighted man. In 1913, the president of Fredericksburg's first bank had sense enough to help finance the construction of a rail line between Fredericksburg and Comfort. A small town, Bankersmith, was settled there, but Smith saw beyond the relative boom that brought a post offic ... More >>

The Tortilla-Wrapped Destiny of SB 1070

Neo-Nazis, burritos and the tortilla-wrapped destiny of SB 1070.

Why Does Karl Rove Hate America So Much?

Oh, boy. Another chance to say something good about Detroit. Nothing gets a bigger rise out of a certain element among you loyal Lawners than when I utter anything even faintly complimentary about my hometown. For reasons I may never fully understand, I would incite less mouth-foaming if I sang the ... More >>

The Art of Prohibition

Cattle Shipped Out of Texas in Record Numbers During Historic Drought

Texas breeding cattle chased the rain in 2011 to plains states such as Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas -- even all the way to Florida -- tripling the amount shipped out of state the year before. That 150,000 head left this stricken country is only the latest metric by which to judge the huge toll ... More >>

Victoria Jackson, Tea Party Princess

Victoria Jackson went from the big leagues of comedy to the rabid right of modern politics.

This Year's Drought Forced Record Cattle Decline Not Seen in Texas Since the 1930s

Photo by Brandon Thibodeaux​Texas cattle country lost some 600,000 head this year -- a 12-percent reduction in the herd -- driven by a drought that withered grasses and baked river beds and stock ponds. It's the kind of en masse decline the likes of which this state hasn't seen since drought r ... More >>

Sometimes 1 Percent is Enough. If, That Is, You're Willing to Stand Up.

​Hey, one last shout out here for the Occupy Dallas people who camped at City Hall. I know you took a lot of grief from people who didn't understand why you were doing what you were doing, including me a little bit at one point. I hope you took note of the president's speech yesterday in Kansa ... More >>

Chilling Con Carnies

Oddfellows Chef Brady Williams on Running a Smooth Kitchen and His Bon Iver-Inspired Dish

Kelsey FosterBrady Williams, with visions of a Tom Waits Gumbo dancing in his head.​In part one of our three parter, Oddfellows Chef Brady Williams told us about his icy road to cooking, while part two covered his take on the Dallas food scene. Today we learn a little about how he runs things ... More >>

Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka Names The Five All-Time Greatest Acts From His Native Ozarks

While there's practically an infinite number of ways a band can generate great word of mouth for themselves in this age of social networking, digital distribution and the star-making blogosphere, it seems as though good, old-fashioned touring is as reliable a generator as any. Springfield, Missouri' ... More >>

Speaking of Ex-Dallas Mayors, Steve Bartlett's Out to Kill D.C.'s Post-Financial Collapse Regs

​And Schutze and I were just talking about Steve Bartlett. Then a Friend of Unfair Park goes and sends this piece posted a little while ago to The New York Times's website about how the former mayor of Dallas (twixt Strauss and Kirk, for those new to town or who just plain forgot, and how could yo ... More >>

Good Friday: Vans Warped Tour Launches During A Busy Weekend of Shows

It's already started!​It's that time of the year again, when the heat has all of our teenage angst at an all-time high. The folks behind the Vans Warped Tour planned accordingly with this year's installment of the fest, which will be at Gexa Energy Pavilion today. So, if you're extremely pissed at ... More >>

"Foolishness in the Extreme": Watch the Dallas ISD School Board Debate the Budget

​If you care at all about the fate of the Dallas Independent School District, carve out an hour over the weekend. Then, jump to the other side of this item, where I've posted the entirety of the school board budget discussion to which I referred yesterday (down below too). Now, fair warning: It's ... More >>

How Bad Will Things Have to Get Before We Make Them Better?

Does Texas Need a Debacle?

​Two experiences over the weekend have given me hope. One was watching a documentary on the catastrophic 1911 Triangle Waist Factory Fire in New York, and the other was a seminar I attended on the state budget crisis. Debacles can be good for us. The documentary made an argument that the sh ... More >>

Wilson Scores With Six

Counting Down the Best Local Albums of 2010

The Modern World

Raise Your Hand if You Remember the Dallas Submarines

​I remember Dad taking me a high-school football game to old P.C. Cobb Stadium, and I saw the Dallas/Fort Worth Spurs play minor-league baseball at Turnpike Stadium. What I don't remember is something called the Dallas Submarines. Apparently they evolved into the Dallas Steers? P.C. Cobb is n ... More >>

Dallas Theater Center's Kevin Moriarty rescues a singing Man of Steel from his Fortress of Solitude.

In One Man's Legal Victory Against DART, There Are Lessons For Us All.

The First Step

Kid Duds

Debt Collectors Consider Trading "Knee-Breaking" Techniques for "Empathy Training"

Hal Samples Craig Cunningham​Craig Cunningham of Dallas has an interesting way of dealing with debt collectors: He sues them, as documented in this week's paper version of Unfair Park. While only a small number of debtors file such lawsuits, the debt collection industry isn't waiting for su ... More >>

Roger the Dodger Gets Called Back to Lead One More Super Bowl Drive

Recession Blues Got You Down? The Folks at Get Motivated! Have a Solution: Think Happy Thoughts.

Turn Your Pad into a Haunted House With These Small-Screen Scares

Attn: Wall Street. Michael Moore is a Marxist (but he's still selling the same old shtick in his Capitalism: A Love Story).

Tea Thyme & Tisane offers a taste of ’70s small-town Texas--and a big helping of 2009 Internet promotion

Only Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Could Build A Palace Big Enough To Match His Larger-Than-Life Persona

Our Best Aunt

At The Car Show, Yeah

Visit the cars you dream of someday owning

Nickeled, Dimed and Screwed

Hard-sell coin dealers make chump change

What's the Deal?

FDR clowns around at Stone Street

Portrait of a Lady

The old old thing

Malvina Reynolds and Harry Smith argue for folk's historical authenticity. Whatever that is.

Nobody Noticed

Marilu Dennis lived in Lakewood for 36 years. One hot July day, she died alone in her home. For 15 months, the grass grew. The mail piled up. The bills went unpaid. Nobody saw Marilu. Nobody noticed